


Sarkan Has a Moment

by SunflowerRose22



Category: Uprooted - Naomi Novik
Genre: Do note that I affectionately refer to Agnieszka as Aggie, F/M, In which Sarkan gets lonely while Aggie is away, Masturbation, Masturbation Using Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-29 12:21:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15729300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunflowerRose22/pseuds/SunflowerRose22
Summary: While Agnieszka is away, gallivanting off to who knows where, Sarkan finds himself feeling lonely.





	Sarkan Has a Moment

   Sarkan absently swirled the wine around in its glass as he stared out the bedroom window towards the moonless sky, trying to swallow down the ache in his chest. The few candles he had scattered around the room casted the walls in a warm glow. His elbow rested on a roughly bound pamphlet that he had brought up from his library an hour or two earlier. Some collection of scholarly papers that he’d nipped from the king’s library the last time he was there with Agnieszka. 

   As to what these scholars had presumably “discovered”, he couldn’t have said. He had yet to open it. He simply hadn’t been in the mood to. Every night when he brought up a book, he found himself absently running his hands over its cover. This night, like most nights, he hadn’t started out thinking about anything in particular. He had first started making a checklist of chores he had to do tomorrow. Then he had taken a rough mental stock of his ingredients, weighing if it would be better to send in for an order of chimera’s blood now or if he should wait for a better price and risk running out. Then he had thought about how one of Aggie’s lady ferns was spilling outside of its pot and would need to be trimmed and after that he had stopped thinking.

   She’d been gone for four months now, off advocating at the king’s court for some excursion in the woods. He hadn’t noticed her absence, at first. He was used to her gallivanting through the woods, only to come back weeks later raiding his potions or thumbing through a book like she’d never left. But it was a month back when he stopped by her cabin for something, something he couldn’t quite remember now, that the loneliness settled in. There was something about seeing the woods attempting to swallow up her wooden cabin that made his throat tighten. He had spent the rest of the day reclaiming it– pulling up weeds from between the wooden floorboards, trimming the plants growing between the roots, airing out the mattress, and relocating several bird nests. 

   Since then, he hadn’t been sleeping well. Everything reminded him of her. And every time he thought of her, he was overcome with a strong desire to see her, to hold her, to feel her. In the end, it was only pride that kept him from making off to Kralia on the fastest horse he could find.

   This night was particularly bad. His craving didn’t remain in his chest. Tonight he was feeling an ache deeper in his stomach. The more his treacherous thoughts lead him to her, the stiffer his body felt. Sarkan felt his face tighten in a grimace.  

   If he was smart he’d down the drink and crawl under the covers, robe and all. An even smarter man would jump into a tub of cold water, letting shock wipe the mind clean of desire. But, as usual, he wasn’t really smart when it came to Aggie. The wine swiveled in its glass then clicked against the table as Sarkan set it down. 

   Sarkan hated touching himself. The concept of it had always been a strong deterrent for him. But there was something he used to do to please himself, when he used to let his power and status go to his head. With a wordless spell, he could shape his magic into a sort of sexually charged phantasmagoria. He could seduce himself into believing he wasn’t alone. It was a complete waste of energy and talent, not to mention highly unstable, for such fleeting pleasure. But right now, it sounded most appealing. 

   Pushing any remaining sense of reason to the back of his mind, Sarkan hung up his robe and climbed alone into their bed big enough to suit a queen. Lying on his side, Sarkan buried his face into a pillow and squeezed his eyes shut. He probed for his magic, trying to recall how it felt to pour his power into a sexual fantasy– to give his daydreams a physical presence. It took some muddling to make it feel right, to feel long delicate fingers trailing up his thigh with the confidence of a lazy lover taking their time with him. He kept his hands clenched in the folds of the pillow, holding his breath as a second hand dipped down his stomach to his– Sarkan made a needy noise in the back of his throat as their thumb began rocking against the tip of his cock. Not theirs – hers.

   Sarkan’s breath hitched as his memory strengthened the spell, heightening the sensations. He arched his back against her body, remembering how it felt to feel the tips of her hair brush against his neck, sending tingles across his nerves. Her quiet laugh rumbled through his spine as he took her hands in his and pressed them against his body. Her name was a prayer on his lips as she trailed kisses on his neck, nipping the skin tender. He feverishly wanted to turn to her, to hold her close, to kiss her into reality. But he didn’t dare break the spell and the hold it had over him. So he moaned obediently into the hand slipping over his mouth and let himself be taken into pleasure with the memory of her heartbeat guiding her rhythm. 

   He opened his eyes as he came. The world evaporated into quietness, save the cracks of flames on their wicks. Sarkan panted heavily into the pillow, still racking from the aftermath of his orgasm. He grimaced at the feeling of stickiness on his skin. He felt weary both in body and magic. As the euphoria drained away, it left a numb gnaw of shame behind. 

   It was then that Sarkan happened to look to his left. His breath left him and he made an undignified noise. There Aggie was, sitting backwards in one of the chairs. She must have dragged it from the table to the bedside. Her hair was half up in painstakingly elegant braids that were already unravelling. Skirts of blue satin lay at the foot of the chair, leaving her left with a cream colored corset and matching petticoat. She was regarding him with a rather dazed expression accompanied by a soft blush dashed across her cheeks. She snapped out of it rather quickly as Sarkan asked with full mortification, “Enjoy the show?”

   “Don’t be mad!” Agnieszka protested, raising from her chair, “I didn’t want to interrupt. You were so into it– I–” She clumsily fell into the bed, trying to stop Sarkan from retreating off the other side. She succeeded in grabbing him around the calf and pulling him back in. Sarkan tried unsuccessfully to push her face away. He resolved to hiding his face behind his hands instead, groaning in misery. Aggie laughed and kissed what his hands could not hide, all the while showering him in praise. Enough to pull him out of his fussiness so he could mumble, “You’re impossible.” She caught him with a kiss before he could finish, one that he eagerly returned as he held her tight.  

**Author's Note:**

> I found myself thinking recently that the Uprooted fandom isn't all that big. So, I thought it would be fun to put my two cents in and spread some head-cannons around. I personally head-cannon that Sarkan is a shorty.  
> With that being said, hope to see you around!


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